mignon mykel { reviews }: review || OUR CHANCE { release blitz }

Friday, May 22, 2015

review || OUR CHANCE { release blitz }

Our Chance by Brandace Morrow

Publisher: Self-Published (5/22/2015)

Series: Los Rancheros, book 4

Genre: Military Romance/Contemporary (Novella)

Release Date: May 22nd, 2015
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions
Purchase links || amazon || add to goodreads

Rating: ★★★★★

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You know those fights you have in high school with your sweetheart? The earth shattering variety that changes everything? I instigated one, and it started me on a course that would change the rest of my life.

After seeing Brody with so many girls, I turned to Sebastian --the new kid in town-- to help me forget. When he enlisted after graduation, I married him. Then one day a knock on the door changed my world.

I stayed in that little Army town in Alaska for five more years, sleeping in our bed, washing our dishes in the same house that he last walked out of, until my gran called me home.

Imagine my surprise when the first thing I see after stepping out of my minivan, is Brody Denton.

about Brandace || I am a full time mom of four, and stationed overseas with my sexy soldier. My current obsessions are Maroon 5, rum and coke, and reading in no particular order. Despite being terribly awkward with social media, I'm everywhere. Frequently subjecting the public to pictures of my minion's messes, and everything that is Momdom in my house.

{ playlist } .

{ review } .

Welcome back to Los Rancheros -- but this time, instead of rockstars and media people, we have two normal individuals.

Can I remind you how much I loved Sadie and Finn? Because I really, really loved them. I wasn't sure that I would love another Brandace Morrow coupling but my goodness gracious, my heart is so full for Brody and Jules.

Brody and Jules have been friends since the womb. Their mothers were best friends and vowed to name their children after Shakespeare characters -- and thus came about Juliet and Brody Romeo. Their mothers truly believed these two would be together forever. When dating in high school, Jules decided they needed to take a break before college and in tears and yelling, they agreed to see other people.

...then Jules ended up pregnant and moved away with Sebastian. Sebastian went into the Army and Jules entered a world of deployment and raising her children along. When she became the recipient of that terrible knock on the door, she decided to stay in Alaska because it was the only home her children knew.

Now it's been five years and she's going back home. The first non-family member she sees is Brody, and right away you can't help but feel for the man.

Brody and Jules's first conversation, free of an audience? My goodness gracious, my heart broke for the man. Brody still harbors hard feelings towards Jules for her decisions and for leaving him, but the two of them fall back into their comfortable selves rather quickly.

There were parts that should have deemed this title a 4.5 on my rating scale, things such as:

Brody and Jules fell back into one another quickly
He was always around and she didn't question it right away
...again, they fell back into one another quickly: eleven years is a long time and things/people change, so it shouldn't have been so seamless...

...but I was so engrossed in the emotion and the love, Brody's willingness to be there for her kids... I just loved Brody and Jules. Just loved them. And the epilogue? My goodness, Brody sure could evoke the tears in me.

This book could easily standalone -- no need for extra parts. But the fact that Brandace ends it's with "The End.... Maybe" and hints towards another part in Brody and Jules's life made me go all fan-girl (no pun). This is a coupling that I want to see again and again, and was rather sad that their's was a story told in only 118 pages.

{ previous reviews in series }

Finding Sadie { review here }

Forgetting Popper { review here }

Finally Finn { review here }

{ giveaway } .

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a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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Friday, May 22, 2015

review || OUR CHANCE { release blitz }

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